The Many Roles of School Support Staff and How They Help Kids Thrive

There’s a common misconception, easy to make for educational outsiders. School is full of teachers, students, and that’s pretty much it. 

Sure, there are people working in the office, a few more in the cafeteria, but in terms of the overall educational ecosystem, these are the primary roles. It’s not quite the case. 

The average public school will employ a wide range of professionals focused on both education and social-emotional growth. 

In this article, we take a look at what these roles are and how they provide value.

The Value of Support Staff

Support staff play an important role in the educational ecosystem for several reasons. On a practical level, most public school classrooms have more students than a single teacher can handle. The average classroom size can be as high as 25. 

While the ideal student-to-instructor ratio is generally considered 10 to 1, particularly in primary school, support staff helps balance that ratio while also ensuring that every classroom has access to specializations. 

This can include reading assistance, math assistance, psychological assistance, and so on. The more specialized professionals there are working in a school, the more versatile and comprehensive the learning institution ultimately becomes.

In the next few headings, we take a look at what kind of professionals add instructional diversity to the average school system. 

Reading Specialist

Reading specialists will both push into classrooms and meet individually with students or in small groups. Their job, as the title suggests, is to help increase literacy skills. They may work with students of any age level who are struggling with their reading and writing skills, but they will also spend lots of time in first and second-grade classrooms helping kids with the building blocks of literacy.

Despite the fact that they occupy a quote-unquote support position, they are actually fully licensed teachers with a specialized certification in reading assistance. 

Depending on the size of a school district, one reading specialist might be dispersed to multiple schools. It’s an important job that both provides help to classroom teachers and gives more specialized support to students who are struggling.

Social Worker

School social workers will spend a lot of their time working with at-risk students. If a student has noted behavioral problems or is known to be struggling with issues at home, they may see the social worker regularly. 

The problems they address aren’t always large-scale, though. Sometimes the social worker will be brought in to help a child with their anxiety or work with kids on conflict resolution skills. 

They may even occasionally push into classrooms to teach social and emotional skills. School social workers will generally have a master’s in social work. 

They will also hold an education-specific license that allows them to work in schools.

School Counselors

School counselors will typically work with the entire student body. They are most common in the high school setting, but they may also work in junior high environments. Their primary role is to guide students through their school experience. 

This could involve helping them pick classes, connect with tutors, or plan extracurriculars. Students who are preparing to graduate will also meet with school counselors more regularly to determine next steps. 

That could mean reviewing colleges, getting help applying for grants and scholarships, exploring trade school opportunities, or even military enrollment. 

School counselors will typically have a master’s degree and will also hold a state-level certification.

Speech-Language Pathologists

Speech-language pathologists will work with students who are struggling with speech skills in one-on-one settings or in small groups. 

They will also often push into the classroom for preschool and kindergarten students to help with early communication skills. 

This is another job that many school districts are forced to divide among multiple buildings. For that reason, SLPs working in the school setting might spend a lot of time in their cars, driving from one school to the next. 

They can work with students of any age level, and they typically develop very personal relationships with the people they are supporting. To become an SLP, you will need a master’s degree as well as a special license or certification to work in a school environment.

Other School Support Roles

There are many other ways to work at a school. Paraprofessionals are one of the most common and accessible school support positions. 

These people are essentially teacher aides. They help the instructor distribute assignments and work with students on completing them. 

They may spend one hour tutoring and the next handling office work like scanning, copying, or collecting documents. In some cases, they may even be able to teach short lessons.

The state requirements for paraprofessionals vary. In the past, they were often required to have a college degree—not necessarily in education, but at the bachelor’s level. 

Many states have since loosened that requirement to attract more candidates. Depending on where you live, you may be able to work as a paraprofessional with only a high school diploma and possibly a state certification.

School librarians are also important educational resources. They typically have a degree in library science and a specialized certification, or a degree in education with a library-specific certification. Either way, they do much more than shelve books. 

Librarians often help with early literacy skills and effectively serve as a teacher to the entire student body.

An Incomplete List

Understand that even this list of five important support staff roles isn’t complete. The average school system might have a nurse, a librarian, a STEM teacher, an art teacher, an entire special ed department, instructors who meet a wide range of different needs, and many more. 

There are literally dozens of different kinds of educational jobs. Some of them are accessible with only a high school diploma, while others can require college degrees or even a graduate-level education. 

If you are interested in making a difference in the lives of children, you’re not limited to only a teacher’s role. There are many different jobs out there. Find the one that aligns with your interests.